Irish Planning Analysed

I believe this useful graphic comes from a soon to be published, Irish Times publication entitled ‘Sustainable Development: Dumbing Down Professional Terminology To Make Things Easier For The Media’.

Did you notice how the IT last week cleared up the ‘what is high rise? what is landmark?’ controversy that has been exercising the finest urban thinkers on the planet by declaring the following building height definitions official?

New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo can now sleep peacefully knowing that a press release reader in far away Dublin has finally supplied them with the vocabulary they so need to accurately describe their environment.

I’m looking forward to future IT pieces when the following terms will be defined:

Sustainable: anything previously described in the Guardian of London as sustainable; anything in Dublin; anything which looks vaguely interesting but for which genuine critical appraisal is too much of an effort; anything having a mix of uses which includes a totally spontaneous yet licensed farmers’ market; cinemas showing Afghani coming-of-age movies.

Unsustainable: every man woman and child in Kerry;

Spectacular: Designed by Scandinavian architects with an öæ, ǿe, etc. in their names (I don’t mean etc., I mean Kvöætc).

Developer Lead: mixed use development by any Irish developer who does not sport a pony tale or keep a credible art collection in a minimalist pad in Marbella; a development designed by an Irish architectural firm whose senior partners drive silver, non Saab, 08 registered cars, dress in Louis Copeland style clobber and play golf on courses newly built on the grounds of listed 18th century houses; developer led projects have a mix of uses but, unlike sustainable developments, we wouldn’t be seen dead in any of its shops.